Number 8763 Wonderland Avenue had some history of its own: Paul Revere and the Raiders once lived there. Youd walk into the house, there were various girls walking around in various states of undress. With the preliminary hearing transcript, the Wonderland groupies for lack of a better term can get a glimpse into what really went down on the night of July 1, 1981, in the words of those who were there: Susan Launius, the sole survivor of the attack; David Lind, a slick, smooth-talking hood who was one of the trigger men in the robbery of reputed mobster Eddie Nash that preceded and instigated the murders; and Tracy McCourt, the petulant wheelman in the Nash heist. The youngest son in the family, Nash arrived in America with seven dollars in his pocket. He didnt want part of him ending up in a jar somewhere. Tom Mix and Harry Houdini once lived there among the quail and scrub pine and coyotes. Now things were not so friendly. By this time, Sharon had befriended Jeana. Hanson said Holmes never told his attorneys what happened the night of the killings. Though, she didn't survive unscathed. Big Rosie, the manager, let Jeana work the switchboard and clean rooms in exchange for rent. He received a bachelor's degree in chemistry and mathematics from Emory . I'll sidestep Nathanael West's blistering "Day of the Locust" to applaud some more recent works like Michelle Huneven's "Jamesland" and the Nina Zero private eye novels by Robert Eversz. The cost of the ISBN - to get your title into other markets like Amazon and bricks and mortar book stores - comes out of the author's own pocket but that's a small price to pay, literally, for everything else Lulu does for authors, such as providing a storefront free of charge. A subreddit dedicated to the unresolved mysteries of the world. In Too Deep. March 2 (UPI) -- A Maryland woman scored a $100,000 prize from a scratch-off lottery ticket less than 12 hours after she scored an $11,000 jackpot at a casino. Get em, boys!. It was owned by the pediatrician she worked for; she and Holmes lived rent-free in an adjacent house. But Detective Tom Lange of the Los Angeles Police Department, the lead investigator on the case, said, There is no mystery, because we know who is involved and we know why. DeVerell, 42, was also a heroin addict. One of the customers was Scott Thorson. Susan A. Murphy married Ron Launius in Carson City, Nevada on 16 April 1971, and the two of them were heavy drug users. Ricks even came in from his sickbed to sentence Nash. Then you guys take him down.. They sat around a glass table in the breakfast nook. Unbeknownst to Sharon, Holmes had recently started in porn, following an encounter with a professional photographer named Joel in the bathroom of the poker parlor in Gardina. Theyd been married sixteen years. We cut him loose.. Drinking, driving. Reportedly, at the time of his death,[3] police investigators throughout California, largely in the Sacramento area, had 27 open homicide cases they believed were perpetrated by Launius. He stroked us, jacked us around. Meanwhile, Jeana called Holmess answering service and left the number. Now it was midnight in the parking lot at the Safeway in Glendale. The consumption of alcohol and drugs was an ongoing, everyday affair, says an attorney who is a longtime acquaintance of Nashs. Take care of him, Sharon said. Jeana was afraid to look at John. He quit the ambulance service and got work stirring vats of chocolate at a Coffee Nips factory in Glendale. . You knew these people.. Like all porn actors, John had been paid per day and had signed away the rights to his own films. This button displays the currently selected search type. In the still unpublished official version of his life, Holmes is quoted as saying that he was held at gunpoint at another house while the killers, whose names he did not know, went to the home on Wonderland Avenue. Drugs, inattention, back taxes and lawyers fees had depleted his fortune. Finally, he replied: The murders . She didnt know what to do. We have estimated Susan Launius's net worth, money, salary, income, and assets. During the dispute, Sherrill shot and killed Moore and Launius helped Sherrill dispose of the body and conceal evidence. When I got out, he said, Lets go, and we drove toward home. Nash was a drug dealer and a heavy user. But Deputy District Attorney Ronald Coen said the prosecution would not attempt to prove Holmes actually killed the victims but was an accessory to the crime. For the next three days, John, Jeana and Sharon were held in protective custody in a luxury hotel in downtown Los Angeles. They hadnt spoken in two years. Under Review. On July 10th, Police knocked down the door of their motel room and arrested Jeana and Holmes. Fine. On the afternoon of Wednesday, July 1st, 1981, Eddie Nash was again consuming drugs at an alarming rate. He wore the buckle when he and Sharon sold bumper stickers door-to-door. Major General William E. Overacker is chief of staff, Headquarters Military Airlift Command, Scott Air Force Base, Ill. General Overacker was born in Cleveland. These five measures map closely with . Early in 1983, Holmes was shooting Fleshpond at a studio in San Francisco. The murder weapon was a steel pipe with threading at the ends. What's different On their first date, hed brought a bottle of Mateus and a handful of flowers. We played our favorite songs, walked, talked. He said, Would you make love to me? I literally shook to death. Holmes let his hair grow, started wearing three-piece suits. We want to talk to you about Eddie Nash, said McClain. What now? she thought. So much blood! Holmes was having a nightmare. They shared an apartment with another divorced woman and her two children. She is the sole survivor of the brutal Wonderland attack the night of July 1, 1981; she suffered severe head injuries, amnesia, and a severed finger following the attack. 02:26. Rush hour was on. Tell the cops what they want to know, cause otherwise Johns going to be dead in a few days. Or that show out of New York, you know, A Current Affair. For extra money, Jeana solicited tricks on the beach. His attorney told reporters that hed changed his mind because of certain arrangements that had been made and certain circumstances that had arisen. I stood there against the wall. Susan Launius. It was Sunday evening and the drugs were gone, the money was gone, the situation was desperate. Holmes was to run it. He had a tape measure in one hand, his penis in the other. Who talks about this person. . The 200 Greatest Singers of All Time His family had owned several hotels before the creation of Israel in 1948. Focusing on employee strengths. Nash told a friend that he missed the moonlight and the olive trees of his homeland, that hed spent time in a refugee camp, that his brother-in-law was shot by Israeli soldiers. . In a recent interview with The Times, Sharon Holmes, who divorced the late actor in 1984, described for the first time the story her husband told her less than three weeks after the July 1 killings. They wanted to see Holmes. They watched some more TV. In the end, both Diles and Nash went to jail. Launius was a reckless thief and he went after wealthy targets, not just down-and-dirty drug dealers and bikers, so I'd look for possible victims with either have money or look like they have money, who turned up dead after a home invasion. She was later unable to identify her attackers. You little Jeana stood, walked away. Hed underestimated Nash once, but hed never do it again. (John) was so much of a liar . He wanted to be the Arab man in his tent. Three hours later, everyone was finally awake. He stared straight ahead, unblinking. 1-20 of 285. He was picking on a kid that didnt know any better. All three of them are sleeping in the same bed. 'We have interviewed her but we're not going to say anything about it.'. Nash hadnt slept in ten days. And (that they) made him watch.. Why? I watched them beat them to death., It was them or me. Would Jeana want to be the live-in baby sitter? The pivotal event in porn history was the release of Deep Throat, starring Linda Lovelace and Harry Reems, in 1972. During the day, she worked in a nursing home. Allan MacDonell October 2, 2003. In the end, Deep Throat was massively consumed by an enthusiastic public. I didnt want to believe Id fallen for a line again, Jeana says. That we were on the right track, that this is indeed what had happened, that this was the motivation, that this was how it came down. Holmes told his wife that he rode with three armed men to the address on Wonderland Avenue. He took a lounge singers approach to sex, deliberately gentle, ostentatiously artful, a homely guy with a pinkie ring and a big dick who was convinced he was every womans dream. Ron Launius had an extensive criminal history before coming to a bloody end. When Detectives Bob Souza and Tom Lange entered the home, nestled in the hip L.A. enclave of Laurel Canyon, they found pills and pipes scattered all over the flooralong with four dead bodies whose. The sun was warm and diffuse. What's your favorite movie(s) or TV show(s) that are based in LA? The jury found him innocent. Hed been in jail eleven months in all, 110 days on the contempt charge. Sharon went to the bedroom, laid down, read a magazine. When Holmes was eight, his mother married Harold, a manic-depressive who worked for the telephone company. Jeana sat very still on the edge of the bed, watching a TV that was mounted on the wall. Lind and his girlfriend had come down three weeks earlier from Sacramento to stay at Wonderland. The attack was allegedly masterminded by organized crime figure Juan Nel 8kfollowers More information Removing Bodies From Wonderland- This Day in History: Jul 1,1981: The Wonderland murders Murder Stories John Holmes Forensic Psychology Laurel Canyon Unsolved Serial Killers True Crime On the morning of June 29, 1981, four men who lived at the Wonderland Avenue address entered Nashs house through a sliding glass door that had been left ajar by Holmes, according to trial testimony. On the day of the robbery Holmes still hadnt come back. He even had the Holy Rollers sister smoking., In the morning, they went out to get food. John Holmes was famous, at least in some circles. Jewelry stores, convenience stores, private homes they would try anything, as long as it meant money or drugs. How you doing, John? said the man in the gray suit, leaning over the safety rail of the bed. Before them were two pairs of handcuffs, a stolen police badge, several automatic pistols and a dogeared sheet of paper, a floor plan. He was also a drug dealer and a heavy user. Edmund Brown Jr. owns a house about a mile from the scene of the murders. The Malibu was idling. He said he was told he would be killed and people in the book would be killed if (Holmes) didnt do what (Nash) wanted. But before they headed east, Holmes paid a final, early morning visit to his wife. Tell me where you are. As the 1980s began, and Holmes became more heavily involved in cocaine, his absences grew longer. Ill never forget that as long as I live, she said. GitHub export from English Wikipedia. When asked to elaborate, the policeman explained: "A trash can only has two handles". He invited them in for coffee. Edward SutterEdward Robert Sutter, 93, of Millstadt, Ill., born March 26, 1919, in Millstadt, Ill., passed away Tuesday, June 26, 2012, at the Columbia Rehab . Holmes finally called on the afternoon of the 29th, after the Wonderland Gang kicked him out. When VCX cut off Holmess salary, Amerson put up money to start Penguin Productions. He quickly racked up a rap sheet, including gun and drug charges. Jeana hung up the phone. . After leaving California, Jeana and John had gone to Vegas, then Montana, then headed south, visiting the Grand Canyon, the Painted Desert. He tried to think. Neighbors in the canyon, where a conversation at night can be overheard blocks away, said they were used to rowdy, all-night parties in the house. Los Angeles, Column: Did the DOJ just say Donald Trump can be held accountable for Jan. 6? Is there something wrong? Here's Why It's Especially Dangerous To Hike SoCal Mountains Right Now, How 4 Words Upended A University's Journalism Program, And Stirred A Reckoning Over Race, What A Popular Yoga Teacher's Descent Into Conspiracy Theories Says About The 'Wellness To QAnon Pipeline', Ancient Lung Disease Strikes Countertop Cutters In LA, The Groundbreaking Suicide Squad That Tested Early Rockets And Flirted With The Occult. Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. Finally he came out and said, You know what? John Holmes himself never offered a public account of what happened on that July night. She was twenty, an army brat. I was there., It was my fault, John said, his eyes welling with tears. And, as Holmess supply of coke dwindled, his conscience was overruled by his jones. Youve got to be joking. Holmes went on to say that he wanted to be best in the world at something, and that he thought pornography was it. She had two daughters, had once been married to a Beverly Hills attorney. Latest Videos; Emmy Awards - Show Clips - Winnerviews - Presenterviews . He meant nothing to me in that way.. John looked down at Sharon. It was a strange and violent time and men wore double-breasted suits and snap-brim Fedoras. Wednesday afternoon, July 1st, two days after the robbery. Then one day Harold threw John down the stairs and came after him. Um, I lifted the trunk of the car, and I gave myself a nosebleed yesterday. Coughing into the microphone, Ricks called Nash a danger to the public and maxed him out. They came from across the countryalthough the Washington, D.C. area was noticeably over-representedas well as from Canada and England, and, in at least one case, all the way from Nazi Germany. On April 29, 1986, fire tore through Los Angeles' Central Library more than one million books were damaged or destroyed. 7-year-old baseball umpire seeks Guinness World Record. Her new boss, a pediatrician, had shut down the office for the afternoon, and shed gone to the market, planned a special dinner for her husband. Nash and Diles were well known on Sunset Strip. John Holmes recounted how he led three thugs to the tightly secured drug house on Wonderland Avenue, escorted them in, and stood by as they bludgeoned the five people inside, spattering Holmes with blood. For his part, Holmes did anything he could for Nash. By Steve Helling. He was very upset about the business. He had a full erection. Hours passed, John woke. Up to this time, Holmes had been doing mostly photo layouts, stag films and 8-mm bookstore loops. The letters "IC" pronounced properly can say "icy" meaning very cold. Launius' wife, Susan Murphy, also claimed that she and Launius were involved in a drug deal gone wrong in Mexico in 1972 or '73, during which she was taken hostage but saved by her husband when he killed her captors. One of Nashs friends and overnight guests was, according to a law-enforcement official, an Israeli with a military background, the so-called reputed godfather of the Israeli Mafia. A report by the California State Department of Justice revealed that the Israeli Mafia was active in California during the late Seventies and early Eighties and was involved in drugs, arson, extortion, gunrunning and a number of murders, including the death and dismemberment of two Israeli nationals at the plush Bonaventure hotel in downtown L.A. During his six or seven years of heavy drug use, said the attorney, Nash lost over a million a year directly attributable to drugs. Dead were Joy Miller, Billy DeVerell, Ron Launius, Barbara Richardson. Sharon was a nurse at USC County General, working on a team that was pioneering open-heart surgery. I come back to Wonderland. Do you find the threat of earthquakes preferable to the threat of hurricanes and long winters? John continued making films for a while. Everybody was down there. Dismiss. His mistress, Jeana, whod been with him since she was fifteen, was turning tricks to support his habit. He thinks Im famous.. Every weekday, you'll get fresh, community-driven stories that catch you up with our independent local news. During recesses in the trial, Nash would go out to his car and smoke freebase. John was a shy and lonely kid who kept to himself and had perfect attendance at Sunday school. The top story was something about a mass murder. The man who owned the house was named Adel Nasrallah. Are you afraid its withering and dying? she said, laughing. Memorial ID. For the latest national news from NPR and our live radio broadcast, visit LAist.com/radio. At the moment that Diles barged through the door with Holmes in tow, Thorson was with Eddie in his bedroom, doing hits. March 3 (UPI) -- A New Brunswick couple who initially thought a burglar had broken into their home discovered the invader was actually a panicked deer. He cooked coke all night long. When he got out of jail, Holmes was jubilant. Now the police wanted Holmess testimony. While Holmes was in jail, Amerson had started a company called John Holmes Productions. He said, Im gonna die! and drove off., When he came back, says Laurie, he was laughing about it. Susan Lanius (unlucky) wife of Ron Lanius played by Christina Applegate in the movie Wonderland. John was carrying two suitcases when he met her. Youre probably going to be saving him.. But Holmes kept calling. Nobody had gotten it yet, but it was still in the back of our minds. Police, however, believe that Holmes actually took part in the fatal beatings. Jeana was scared to death. Porn star John Holmes in 1981, shortly after four people were bludgeoned to death in what came to be known as the Wonderland Murders. Then, says Laurie, the third time I went up there, he came up to me with the mirror and said, You want a hit? and I turned to him and said no. This was it. Then Nash was arrested with three others on federal charges of racketeering, arson and mail fraud. About this time, Sharon says, Holmes began working as a courier for the Mob. Each time, Nash made bail. 'I was laying down on the bed. He felt like he was an example.. He treated me very special. John was thirty-one, she was fifteen. Except for the . Launius' wife, Susan Launius, survived the attack, which is shocking given the crime scene photos and video. Holmes went on to make more than 2,000 movies. She even had to have part of her skull surgically removed as a result of her injuries. Its like being a carpenter. He was willing, even eager, to murder a helpless woman who was no physical threat to him. The Holy Roller was up in the balcony, waving a Christian flag, praying and hollering, singing We Shall Overcome. She said John had cut some coke with an old tarot card and she believed it was a sign from the devil. Soon after, Detectives Lange and McClain called the hospital. Its the cops.. Eversz is one of the best unsung novelists in the crime genre we have working today. Whatever. The guest bedroom. The daughter had a kid and a job. The day after the robbery, someone who knew Nash apparently spotted Holmes in Hollywood, wearing a piece of jewelry that had been stolen from Nashs home, he told his wife. german apple cake recipe milk street. They moved to a house on five acres in wooded, rural Pataskala, Ohio. Inside were his drugs, his glass pipe, baking soda and a petri dish for cooking cocaine powder into rock base, a bottle of 151 rum and cotton swabs for lighting the pipe. The Sixties, the pill, free love, communes, wife swapping, the perverse creativity of mixed-media artists who were pushing the limit, trying to shock all of these things created an atmosphere in which porn could blossom. Holmes was crumpled on the floor. In jail, Holmes went on a hunger strike. He refused anyway. . Are you an introvert or an extrovert? Hed been with three governors, two of their wives and one senator, who was really a freak., Holmes said he owned ten different businesses, that he was a gourmet cook, that he had written twenty-nine books, including a how-to manual combining cooking and sex. Browse by collection. . Send us a tip using our anonymous form. Susan A. Murphy Launius, 30, while not an official member of the gang, was married to gang member Ron Launius and had a drug habit. She was scheduled to appear in court this month on drug charges. In 1974, Sharon became the resident manager of a ten-unit apartment court in Glendale. At the hospital, as he came out of anesthesia, he said to Mary, Ill never have to work again. He didnt. One woman who had sex with Nash remembers a lot of temptation. (Taken from Wikipedia on Wonderland Murders). They came even though, at the time, there was no music industry in Los Angeles. All Rights reserved. He drove a forklift at a meatpacking plant in Cudahy until his lung collapsed from working in the freezer. Nash reciprocated with a quarter ounce of coke. She reached up and took Johns chin in her hand, turned his head side to side. The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time His surgery wouldnt heal up, either. Schuyler said that Ed loved her son exceedingly and that he offered to fix it up for you to take him to a top brain surgeon. Apparently, Holmes had made good his promise and stopped doing drugs. His old friend was happy to pick them up. For the last several years, Nash had rarely left his white-stone ranch house in Studio City. Hed been ripped for eight pounds of cocaine, but the Wonderland Gang hadnt found his private stash, and now he was bubbling his glass pipe furiously. Sharon, a registered nurse, rummaged through a well-stocked medicine cabinet, brought out iodine and cotton swabs. In the business she was billed as Misty Dawn, the anal queen of porn. Wed have dinner with other people at the hotel, go to movies. He began spilling to Blake in 1973, after he was arrested on a movie set. Suspected burglar inside New Brunswick home was a panicked deer. Six months later, on September 8th, 1988, Diles and Nash were charged with the murders on Wonderland Avenue.